The eighth season of ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', successor series to ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy,'' and adapted from ''Series/RescueSentaiGoGoFive''. It was the first ''Power Rangers'' series to be completely independent from its predecessor, and to drop the secret identity trope. Lightspeed Rescue was a government-sponsored agency, dedicated to protecting the city of Mariner Bay from the return of Queen Bansheera and her minions.

Captain Mitchell, accidentally made aware of the threat, assembles a team of rangers, including his eighteen-year-old daughter, Dana, a paramedic; Carter Grayson, a firefighter; Kelsey Winslow, extreme sports enthusiast; Joel Rawlings, stunt pilot; and Chad Lee, a whale trainer and martial artist. At first, the potential Rangers want nothing to do with it, but upon witnessing the threat with their own eyes, they embrace their position as civil servants.

It turns out that Mitchell was prepared for the arrival of the demons because he has had experience with them in the past...

''Lightspeed'' is the first season to feature an entirely American-made ranger, the Titanium Ranger, as ''Go Go V'' did not have a SixthRanger. It also was a military-esque funded and organized team, with SecretIdentities entirely non-existent.

''Lightspeed'' is somewhat divisive among the fandom; some consider it to be one of the better seasons, while others consider it to be sub-par. Most people cite the villains and some of the acting as weak points, while the storyline and action sequences are often claimed to be the show's saving grace. The fact it was succeeded by [[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce what is considered by some to be the best season]] probably didn't help matters much. In general this season is considered the weakest of the Judd Lynn era.

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!!Recurring ''Power Rangers'' tropes include:

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs* BigGood: Captain William Mitchell * ChestInsignia: Operation Lightspeed logos on the belts, personal shield shapes as the faces of the helmets. The design on the chests (eighths alternating white and colored) is also pretty distinctive, and looks a lot like [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil the Umbrella Corporation]]'s logo.* ChromeChampion: Titanium Ranger* CityOfAdventure: Mariner Bay* [[FearlessFool Fearless Fools]]* FiveBadBand:** BigBad: Queen Bansheera** TheDragon: Originally Diabolico (also a DragonInChief at the beginning) but replaced by Prince Olympius.** EvilGenius: Jinxer** TheBrute: Loki** DarkChick: Vypra** SixthRangerTraitor: Diabolico after he [[UnexplainedRecovery gets better]].* FiveManBand:** TheHero: Carter** TheLancer: Joel** [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]: Dana** TheBigGuy: Chad** TheChick: Kelsey** SixthRanger: Ryan* HomeBase: the Lightspeed Aquabase** UnderwaterBase: Justified as the demons have water as a WeaksauceWeakness.* HumongousMecha: Besides the obvious, the Supertrain Megazord deserves special mention - It's formed from the vehicles that carry the Lightspeed Megazord into battle, and because of this, dwarfs most monsters ''and'' all of the other Megazords that Lightspeed used.** CombiningMecha** TransformingMecha: the Max Solarzord* ItRunsOnNonsensoleum* MadeOfExplodium* MakeMyMonsterGrow* TheMentor: Captain Mitchell* {{Mooks}}: Batlings* ThePsychoRangers: The Cyborg Rangers for this season. They weren't intended to become Mariner Bay's own [[PowerRangersInSpace Psycho Rangers]] though -- [[DrillSergeantNasty General]] [[{{Jerkass}} McKinght]] just wanted them to replace the Rangers just because of their lack of human frailties. However, one bolt of lightning was enough to make them malfunction and turn them into deranged androids considering that they were only programmed to fight and not use moral reasoning or sound judgement. Just as Ms. Fairweather said, they lacked a heart. * {{Recycled IN SPACE}}!: Power Rangers [[AC:as [[{{Rescue}} RESCUE WORKERS]]!]]* RedOniBlueOni:** Kelsey and Dana** Joel and Chad** Or, Kelsey and Chad* SealedEvilInACan: The villains are released from the "Tomb of Forever" by an unwitting Egyptologist. The villains then go about trying to free their still-sealed Queen. They all more or less end up that way again in the finale when they are either destroyed (sending their spirits back) or by physically being thrown back into the "Tomb of Forever", sealing them in the Shadow World.* ShesAManInJapan: Kelsey as the counterpart of Daimon, aka Go Yellow.* {{Thememobile}}:** CoolBike: The Lightspeed Cycles and Carter's Trans-Armor Cycle** CoolCar: As civilians, the Rangers used the Rescue Rover.* WeaponOfChoice: In general, SuperheroPackingHeat. The Lightspeed Rangers are some of the few who do not favor swordplay, instead using their blasters for the most part. This is most notable with Carter in "Forever Red".** SwissArmyWeapon: Rescue Blasters (with a Baton Mode)*** With AnAxeToGrind: Ryan's Titanium Laser** FireBreathingWeapon (sort of, they fire heat beams): Thermo Blasters** BifurcatedWeapon: The Rescue Bird*** {{BFG}}: Unilaser Mode*** ImprobableWeaponUser: Rescue Cutter, Rescue Claw, Rescue Injector*** TheGunslinger: Rescue Laser*** ThisIsADrill: Rescue Drill** BoomStick; also used as just BladeOnAStick: V-Lancers* WordPower:** ByThePowerOfGreyskull or {{Invocation}}: "Lightspeed! Rescue!"

!!This subseries contains examples of:

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: When Dana becomes the Glitz Girl and neglects both her Power Ranger duties and her friends in "In the Limelight".* AIIsACrapshoot: The Cyborg Rangers go nuts after being [[LightningCanDoAnything struck by lightning.]]* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Joel to Miss Fairweather up until the season finale, where she asks him out. [[OfficialCouple They marry]] just before the ''Lightspeed''/''Time Force'' team-up.* AlphaStrike: The Lightspeed Solarzord's FinishingMove, which basically consists of blasting the living tar out of the target with everything it's got (specifically, blasters on it's head, chestplate, gauntlets, and two '''massive''' hip cannons formed out of the Solarzord's arms).* AndTheAdventureContinues: Even though their time as Rangers is over, the end of the series features the rangers running off to help with another fire. Latter seasons imply that Lightspeed Rescue eventually got up and running again,.* ArbitrarySkepticism: "No such thing as monsters" in "Trakeena's Revenge". Even discounting the prior portion of the season, it's the crossover, confirming that yes, the last seven years of monster attacks count. Because of this, Linkara has labled the woman who said this "The Dumbest Woman In Power Rangers Ever."** What makes this even ''worse'' is that ''Lightspeed Rescue'' is the first season where the Rangers didn't have secret identities - they were openly known as the Power Rangers in public. Furthermore, their non-Ranger identities were rather well known.* AvengersAssemble* AwesomeMcCoolname: Who wouldn't want to be in a megazord called The Omega Megazord?* BadassFamily: the Mitchells.* BadBoss: Queen Bansheera. Quite possibly one of ''the'' worst people to work for. Unlike previous villains who had comedic sides, or had genuine love for a friend or family member, Bansheera has neither. Even her own son is expendable to her.* BigNo: From Captain Mitchell, twice in the episode "Truth Discovered". The first time happens when a young Ryan is about to fall to his death and his Mr. Mitchell cries out for his son to be saved. The second time is when Diabolico as a spirit takes away Ryan and decrees to Mr. Mitchell that he will not see Ryan until his 20th birthday.* BlackCloak: the Ghouls.* BreathWeapon: Vypra.* BreatherEpisode: [[BeachEpisode "A Face From The Past"]] was immediately followed by [[spoiler: [[BigBad Queen Bansheera]] returning and nearly wiping Mariner Bay off the map, and [[SixthRanger Ryan]] leaving to find a way to seal the demons away.]]* CainAndAbel: Ryan and Dana respectively, just not for long. But before doing his HeelFaceTurn, [[spoiler: Ryan was raised by Diabolico to believe that his father loved his sister more than him, among other things.]] Note, too, that Ryan is the older one of the two -- though not by much significantly (2 year-difference). They also go one-on-one in one episode with Dana being able to hold her ground in spite of Ryan having easily kicked hers and all the other Rangers' asses in the previous episode, all the while trying to talk some sense into him.* CanonForeigner: the Titanium Ranger* TheCaptain: Captain Mitchell, obviously. Also Carter.* CasanovaWannabe: Joel. [[spoiler: He does get the girl in the end.]]* CatchAndReturn: The Lightspeed Solarzord's solar panels can absorb an incoming attack to augment its own.* ChekhovsGun: A submarine is used in the first episode to transport the future Rangers to their underwater Aquabase, then is seemingly forgotten when it's revealed they can travel to the city and back via an underground tunnel. In the finale, they use the same submarine to escape the flooded Aquabase, and [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Captain Mitchell takes out the]] Batling-piloted [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Lifeforce Megazord with it.]]* ChekhovsSkill: All the Rangers were selected for their skills in certain fields, which come up specifically in different parts of the season.* ClipShow: "The Last Ranger", when four of the Rangers try to regain their memories after a run-in with an amnesia monster, while Dana tries to battle said monster alone.* CommandRoster:** TheCaptain: Carter, although Mitchell technically has the rank of Captain.** NumberTwo: Chad** AcePilot: Joel** The Marine: Kelsey, largely in her attitude in jumping into action without thinking** TheMedic: Dana** WrenchWench: Miss Fairweather** ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Captain Mitchell* CoolTrain: the Rail Rescues/Supertrain Megazord* DarkerAndEdgier: With a bit of FridgeLogic, this series actually fits. It has one of the vilest villains the franchise has ever seen, got away with [[NeverSayDie saying "dead,"]] had a real gun in one episode, and, perhaps most impressively of all, ''averted'' NoEndorHolocaust, with the carnage caused by the monster attacks taking center stage quite often (they don't go so far as to actually show any dead bodies or anything like that, though). This is quite fitting, as these Rangers are rescue workers first and monster fighters second.** There was even one episode, called "Yesterday Again", where Carter cannot come to the other Rangers' aid on time because of his difficulties in piloting his Mobile Armored Vehicle (which started to malfunction, on top of that) and actually witnesses the other Rangers [[spoiler: getting ''[[KilledOffForReal killed]]'' by Olympius (yes, you read that correctly; and it was ''onscreen'' -- but no blood). And no, they did not pull a [[PowerRangersLostGalaxy Kendrix]], if you know what we [[BackFromTheDead mean]]. Luckily, and oddly enough, his malfunctioning vehicle gave him the chance to do some time-travelling, thus repeating that same day, which allowed him to prevent their deaths.]]* DeaderThanDead: One way to interpret [[spoiler: Queen Bansheera]]'s fate; a horde of demons rip her soul apart.* DiscOneFinalBoss: Diabolico* DraggedOffToHell: Queen Bansheera's final plan [[spoiler: is to release all the monsters from the Shadow World - every monster ever, going back to MMPR season 1.]] She is eventually [[spoiler: pushed in by the Red Ranger, and latches onto him. The deceased Diabolico, however, appears in spirit form, severs her tentacle, and sends his former mistress to her fate. The last thing we see before the Shadow World tomb closes is all the monsters closing in and starting to pound on her.]] It's ''nothing'' more than she deserved.* EliteMooks: Demonite, Thunderon and Falkar, Diabolico's last monsters. They spend several episodes kicking the Rangers' butts. The Rangers usually had to resort to underhanded methods to level the playing field against them.* EveryCarIsAPinto: Even [[TheCaptain Captain Mitchell]] [[SarcasmMode drives one!]]* EvilLaugh: Queen Bansheera* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Impus/[[spoiler:Olympius]] dearly loves his mother, despite the fact that she's perfectly willing to [[NeverSayDie destroy]] him.* FateWorseThanDeath: The other way to interpret [[spoiler: Queen Bansheera]]'s fate; a horde of demons beats the shit out of her for all eternity. Most fans would agree she deserves this one more.* FreezeFrameBonus: A bit of a random and weird one. [[http://twitpic.com/8bwosg This]] pops up while the Lightspeed Megazord is scanning for Queen Bansheera. (Yes, the second one is an actual band.)* FuelMeterOfPower: The Titanium Ranger. Specifically, he's cursed so there's a cobra tattoo on his back, and every time he morphs it rises higher. If it gets to his neck, he dies. Eventually subverted, as Ryan destroys the cobra statue powering the tattoo. This didn't mean he would appear more often, though.* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Operation Lightspeed* GroundhogDayLoop: "Yesterday Again"* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Inverted slightly. After Bansheera took control of him and forced him to fire at the Rangers who were battling Loki, who ended up being hit by the blast and destroyed, Diabolico vowed revenge against the queen. However, before he could act on his plan, Bansheera took control of him and forced him to fight the Rangers, who had no choice but to destroy him. Fortunately, he got another chance in the finale when he came back as a spirit and helped Carter trap her back in the demon world forever.* HeroesRUs* {{Homage}}: Besides the source footage's hat-tipping to [[Series/{{Thunderbirds}} the work of Gerry Anderson]], Saban's adaptation (perhaps inadvertently) takes it further. Lightspeed is a technologically advanced government agency with clear similarities to the Navy, much like ''Series/{{Stingray|1964}}''[='s=] WASP.* HotScientist: Miss Fairweather* ImprobableAge: Dana's official age is 18, and she's a qualified paramedic. Granted, she's working for her daddy...** By next season's team-up, she has a ''doctorate''. After an episode in Lightspeed predicated on her saving money for medical school. Which she graduated from in ''one year'', according to the ''Lightspeed Rescue''/''Time Force'' team-up episode "Time for Lightspeed". Medical school does not work that way!*** Paramedic training ''can'' shorten the length of time spent in medical school, but yeah it's still pretty messed up.* ImprobableAimingSkills: The Lightspeed Rangers' [[WeaponOfChoice blaster preference]] makes this one something like RequiredSecondaryPowers.* ImYourWorstNightmare* TheLegionsOfHell* LifeForce: used to power the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lifeforce]] Megazord* LimitedWardrobe: Unlike the previous season there was no justification. They wear Lightspeed jackets over their street clothes. That's it. And their street clothes are the same every episode.* LongHairIsFeminine: Averted, tomboy Kelsey Winslow is the one with long hair, while Dana Mitchell, who is the girly girl to Kelsey's tomboy, has short hair. However, it's played with as Dana, who is a paramedic, is still much less feminine than a lot of other pink rangers (which as Kimberly).* LongLostSibling: [[spoiler: Ryan, Captain Mitchell's son, and Dana's older brother]]* LoveIsAWeakness: Vypra believes love is Chad's weakness after he battles the Demons to save Marina the mermaid. Loki disagrees.-->'''Loki''': Weakness? I'd say it made him a whole lot stronger!* MarkOfTheBeast: Ryan's snake tattoo, post-HeelFaceTurn* {{Meganekko}}: Ms. Fairweather.* MetaphorIsMyMiddleName: Kelsey: "Crazy is my middle name!"* MildlyMilitary* MythologyGag: Combined with FreezeFrameBonus; if you look closely a few times in the Aquabase's Transport Bay (where the Rangers often head out to the Train Bay, or in the Rescue Rover), you'll see a small green robot standing around with the Lightspeed emblem for a face. This was Mint, from GoGoV; there he assisted the Rangers by analyzing things, or by piloting the Rail Rescues when they couldn't.* NobleDemon: Diabolico, [[CharacterDevelopment eventually]].* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: During a subsequent fight with the Titanium Ranger, the Lightspeed Rangers are equipped with the V-Lancers, basically lances equipped with a gun mode. They nail the Titanium Ranger with a combined blast which, by rights, ought to have killed him. However, he's more or less fine, prompting Carter to invoke this trope in his incredulity.* OddFriendship: Chad and Kelsey.* OfficialCouple: By the time they team up with the Time Force Rangers, Joel and Miss Fairweather have got married.* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Chad's love interest Marina. Eventually operates by the ''Film/{{Splash}}'' method, but can only live out of water for so long.* PaletteSwap: The Lifeforce Megazord is basically the Lightspeed Solarzord in black and gold wielding the Lightspeed Megazord's sword in red, and apparently cannot transform.* PluckyGirl: Kelsey.* ThePowerOfTheSun: The Max Solarzord, and by extension the Lightspeed Solarzord. It can also absorb whatever Diabolico throws at it, much to both side's surprise.* RelativeError: Angela and Clark Fairweather* ShotForShotRemake: Zigzagged. While the season used most some of the plot from ''[[Series/RescueSentaiGoGoFive GoGoFive]]'', it also has given the characters their own personalities which are not too similar to their Japanese counterparts AND have its own many original plots as well (specifically: the Titanium Ranger, the Tomb of Forever, Bansheera's fate, etc.).* TeamDad: Captain Mitchell, helped along by the fact that he actually IS a dad.** And to a member of the team, at that. [[spoiler: Eventually, two members of the team when [[LongLostSibling Ryan]] arrives & takes up the Titanium Ranger powers.]]* ThisCannotBe: Perhaps verbatim when Diabolico unleashes his full arsenal on the Lightspeed Solarzord... and it absorbs the energy. Carter's response: "Sure it can, Diabolico!" *[[BeamSpam BOOM]]** ThisIsGonnaSuck: Carter's reaction when Diabolico resurrects the Troika Monsters.* ThisIsNotADrill: Invoked, at one point it looks like the demons have been defeated, everyone's celebrating and then the alarms go off, when Carter asks if its a drill, Captain Mitchell responds with "We don't have drills".* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Chad.* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Kelsey and Dana.* TooDumbToLive: There's one episode when a young girl's mom is captured by monsters. When the little girl ask another woman's help, the older woman says that there's no such things as monsters. This was midway through the season, after dozens of monsters had attacked the city. Not to mention that just a [[Series/PowerRangersInSpace few years ago]], Earth was temporarily taken over by monsters. And this was the team-up episode, confirming that, yes, the last seven seasons of monsters attacks did happen. Not to mention this girl says her mother has been kidnapped. It shouldn't matter what type of thing she says did it - her mom was kidnapped and the woman walks away giving no help, which is insane. It's with good reason that [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] named this lady '''"DUMBEST PERSON IN POWER RANGERS EVER."''' * TheWorseningCurseMark: Given to Ryan by Diabolico.* UnwinnableTrainingSimulation* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Presumably Jinxer died when the hijacked Omega Megazord went down, but we don't see proof of this.* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Averted big time. Carter doesn't have any martial arts training, and thus is quick to draw his blaster when dealing with {{Mook}}s and the like. To say nothing of the bit when he has a MonsterOfTheWeek pinned up against the wall with a {{BFG}} in each hand, with the monster daring him to take the shot. [[spoiler: He does. And it's awesome.]]* WithAllDueRespect: An angry Dana invokes this when she's sent to give her father's friend a ride while the others guard an important fuel cell. [[spoiler: It turns out the others are a decoy, and the real fuel cell is with Dana.]]-->'''Dana''': Father, with all due respect, call your friend a taxi!* WouldHurtAChild: At one point, Diabolico was only seconds away from smothering Impus when Jinxer stumbled upon him.* YourSizeMayVary: the Supertrain Megazord. Due to [[PeopleInRubberSuits the size of the suits]] and sets, it'll be massive in special effect-ed distant shots, but in normal shots, the same size as whatever MonsterOfTheWeek or mecha is also in frame.